


Family, Duty, Honor

by ComingandGoingByBubble



Category: Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (TV 2018)
Genre: Feast of Feasts, Gen, i just love them ok, mother and daughter relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-13 09:34:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29276259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ComingandGoingByBubble/pseuds/ComingandGoingByBubble
Summary: "Our obligation is not to question, it is to obey and participate." Zelda's inner thoughts on The Feast of Feasts tradition as she volunteers for the Spellman family.My first CAOS fic.
Relationships: Sabrina Spellman & Zelda Spellman
Comments: 10
Kudos: 20





	Family, Duty, Honor

**Author's Note:**

> Hello CAOS fandom, I offer you a Zelda fanfic as my first fic to this fandom. I've recently finished Part 4, and have a lot of feelings about Zelda and Sabrina! Hopefully I'll be posting more fics for this fandom soon.  
> I hope I've done Zelda's character justice. Miranda Otto's portrayal of her is so multifaceted and complex, I just love it!
> 
> Also, as a note, I kind of made up what happened with Zelda and Hilda's mother, so forgive me if it's not canon- but I thought it would give an added weight to the scene and to Zelda and Hilda's reactions to the Feast of Feasts.
> 
> Thank you for reading! Hope you enjoy!

Family, Duty, Honor.

Zelda had been dreading this conversation ever since the slaughtered lamb had been nailed to their door. She had been hoping to get through a few more Feast of Feasts before their family was selected again, but it seemed that the Dark Lord had not granted her wish.

The other night she had explained in vague terms about the Feast of Feasts, likening it to the mortal’s Thanksgiving that Sabrina had so often participated in when she was younger at her friend’s houses. But she had spared her the other details, for she knew as soon as Sabrina found out that one female member from each family must draw in the lottery, and that whoever was selected queen was to be eaten, Sabrina would insist on being the one to represent the family.

As she had predicted, once she had finished explaining the ritual in full, Freya, with addendums from Hilda, and dark jokes from Ambrose, she saw that glower begin to emerge in her niece’s eyes, the same one Edward used to wear when he became angry. Zelda set her jaw. She knew this wasn’t going to be easy, and even so she continued, saying the obvious out loud, for it needed to be said.

“Since Hilda’s been excommunicated,” Zelda started slowly, staring at her almost-empty glass of gin, “only Sabrina and I are eligible for the lottery, which means that,” She took in a breath because she knew Sabrina would fight this, glancing at Sabrina for a quick moment before continuing on as if she was discussing the weather, “I will represent the family at tomorrow night’s drawing.”

Sabrina’s protest nearly started right after Zelda had finished her sentence, and Zelda stood to leave, for she could not listen to Sabrina fight her on this. She wouldn’t.

“No, no, no. No. Aunt Zelda, you can’t.” Sabrina grasped at her arm, looking up at her, horrified.

Zelda flinched, closing her eyes for a second. _Our obligation is not to question, it is to obey and participate_ , her father’s words echoed in her head at that, the same words she had just spoken to Sabrina a few minutes earlier.

Satan in hell, she needed a cigarette.

Sabrina’s voice quivered as she asked the question that no one else dared to say out loud. “What if you get picked?”

 _Obey and participate_. That was what her father had told her when their mother had been selected as Queen that horrid year. They should be proud, happy, that the Dark Lord had chosen to honor them in this way. Their Mother was the only choice, Zelda and Hilda being too young to have entered the coven officially.

Zelda recalled having a similar, pleading conversation with her father, saying that they weren’t starving anymore, that the ritual didn’t need to happen. Her words hadn’t mattered. They hadn’t made a single difference.

“Aunt Hilda? Ambrose, back me up here?” Sabrina looked frantically to her cousin and Aunt, her voice pleading. Zelda knew they would say nothing; it wasn't their place, nor did they have any choice in the matter. 

When Sabrina received a dark silence as an answer, the girl instinctively tightened her grip on Zelda’s sleeve, and Zelda couldn’t find it in her to up and leave at that moment, so she lowered herself back down into the chair.

“We Spellmans are an endangered species.” Sabrina uttered, looking at all of them. Satan preserve her, she looked so much like Edward when she did that. 

"I lost my Mom and my Dad… I don’t want to lose you, too," she pleaded earnestly and Zelda felt her heart shatter into pieces.

Outwardly, only her face twitched, she felt tears well up in her eyes at her niece’s love for her, at her refusal to let her Aunt die for the family, but Zelda couldn’t articulate what it would mean for them (all of them, Zelda, Hilda, and Ambrose) if they lost Sabrina. She couldn’t say how it would break their hearts into two, how devastated they would all be, for the rest of their lives, if Sabrina happened to be picked as queen. Zelda would never forgive herself. Ever. 

“That’s sweet Sabrina…” was all she said instead.

She paused for a moment and then continued, trying at least to reassure the girl, glancing at Hilda for back up, “but your Aunt Hilda and I have participated in many lotteries over the years, and the Dark Lord has never seen fit to…”- the next few words felt wrong on her tongue, she didn’t believe that being queen and eaten by the coven was a reward for anyone, she also thought the practice outlandish and barbaric. She had been glad when Edward had outlawed it. But she could not say that to Sabrina, not when they were in such a perilous position in the coven due to Sabrina’s actions, - “reward us with being queen. I have no reason to believe this year will be any different.”

Sabrina parted her lips to speak again, but Zelda would hear no more.

“So please,” she said, her tone final with a glance at Sabrina, “the Feast of Feasts is happening, and like it or not, we are participating.”

She stood, finishing off her drink quickly before turning to leave to go up to bed, the silence echoing.

“Don’t forget…” Hilda murmured, motioning a hand to the decanter while the other hand wiped at her eyes.

She caught Hilda’s glance, teary-eyed and tried to keep her own set in stone, at least until she got upstairs. Whether or not Hilda was upset by her own excommunication and therefore inability to volunteer, Zelda's offer to volunteer, Sabrina's words about not wanting to lose anyone else, or whether Hilda was thinking on what happened to their mother, Zelda did not know.

She did not stay to find out, although she did pause for just a moment to collect her thoughts. Luckily her back was turned towards Sabrina, but even still, Zelda knew that if she crumbled now in front of her that she’d be done for. So, she grabbed the decanter with a quick hand and headed up the stairs, letting out a breath that she hadn’t realized she had been holding as she poured herself another drink. She tried not to think of the look on Sabrina’s face when she had realized that Zelda was going to sacrifice herself, offer herself up to be Queen if chosen.

But Zelda couldn’t let Sabrina draw in the lottery. Not after everything they had gone through to protect her, and keep her safe, she wouldn’t let the coven devour her niece over some brutal tradition, even if it was the Dark Lord’s will.

So, Zelda Spellman would do what she had always done. She would protect her family by sacrificing herself, do her duty to the coven by honoring the Feast of Feasts tradition to keep the Spellman name in the good graces of the Dark Lord, and hopefully maintain some sense of honor in the act of keeping Sabrina safe, for Edward’s sake as well as her own.


End file.
